Australian carrier Qantas has been dragged to the Federal Court for millions in compensation payments for workers, it sacked illegally during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Transport Workers Union is suing the airline over what it says is “the largest case of illegal sackings in Australia’s corporate history”.
Last week the carrier was handed a A$250,000 fine for wrongfully dismissing a health and safety representative during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Monday morning (18 March) Compensation hearings began in the Federal Court to determine how much the 1,700 ground staff are entitled to for being illegally terminated in November 2020.
The matter has returned to the Federal Court after the High Court last September unanimously rejected the airline's attempt to overturn previous verdicts that it illegally sacked some staff.
Represented by Mark Gibian SC, the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), told the court the workers are entitled to compensation for both financial loss and for the hurt and distress caused by the sackings.
“The immediate and knowing consequences of Qantas’ conduct was that the overwhelming majority of those ground handling employees would be entrenched and lose their employment,” Gibian said.
In his opening submissions, Gibian took Justice Michael Lee briefly through the affidavits of three former employees who were put forward as “test cases” to provide evidence of the potential loss.
Barrister Mark Gibian SC said one of the workers felt his “depression” at having been retrenched impacted relationships with his family.
“It’s relevant to his hurt and humiliation and distress,” Gibian said.
Picture Courtesy : NOCAR
Affidavits noted losses ranged from economic loss, mental health distress and an inability to find new employment. One worker was taking four Valiums a day, the court heard, while another was prescribed antidepressants.
The court was told Qantas intends to argue that had it not terminated the staff in November 2020, it would have done so immediately after the pandemic and the second attempt would have been legal.
A court previously found Qantas contravened the Fair Work Act by its decision to outsource the roles of almost 1700 ground staff at 10 Australian airports in late 2020. The airline fought the case all the way to the High Court, but lost its appeal in September.
Earlier, Qantas had claimed the outsourcing would save more than $100 million a year to help cope with the impact of the pandemic on air travel.
Another worker said she felt “stressed and anxious” at being forced to look for a new job and took Valium to deal with the anxiety.
“I often felt nauseated because of the anxiety and stopped eating as much,” the woman wrote in her affidavit.
Also appearing outside court, TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said it has been a “torturous road to justice” for the workers.
“These workers have been dragged to hell and back through two painful, unsuccessful appeals, [and] through a failed mediation process,” Kaine said.
Qantas also faces the prospect of being issued multimillion-dollar penalties for breaching the law.
One of the sacked workers, Don Dixon, told media he was hopeful Qantas would do “the right thing” and compensate impacted workers.
“Three years ago we got thrown out the door unlawfully,” he said.“We did absolutely nothing wrong, except turn up, do our job, go home and keep the travelling public safe.”
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said the level of compensation could potentially total more than $100 million, which would be paid to workers within three separate groups depending on their level of impact.He said some workers had lost properties and had “family breakdowns” as a result of losing their jobs.
“These workers have been dragged to hell and back through two painful unsuccessful deals, through a failed mediation process,” he said.
Qantas submitted it would be unable to be run alongside the workers’ compensation hearing because they would need extensive data, such as whether any of the sacked workers were still in the transport industry and if they were still financial members of the union.
During Monday’s hearing, Justice Michael Lee criticized union lawyers for failing to bring another claim for compensation , for the loss of membership fees as the result of workers being let go – at the same time as the former employees’ case.
Justice Lee said that despite him bringing the issue up in September 2023 after reading comments made by the union in media reports, there was no additional compensation application made to the court.
The court heard 716 of the dismissed workers were TWU members, however Justice Lee noted some would likely have found alternative work within the industry and retained their membership.
The judge also mentioned that he had made efforts for the claim to be heard at the earliest possible time, to allow workers to be paid any compensation quickly.
Qantas said it also wanted the former workers to receive “fair compensation as quickly as possible”.
“Qantas sincerely apologises and deeply regrets the personal impact the outsourcing decision had on these former employees,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.
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